Abouzar Rahmati, a 43-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen residing in Great Falls, Virginia, was sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of the Iranian government in the United States. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court and was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Rahmati, who previously worked as a contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), pleaded guilty on April 16, 2025, to charges of acting as an agent of Iran without notifying the Attorney General and conspiracy to do so. In addition to his prison sentence, he will serve three years of supervised release.
The announcement included statements from Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg of the Justice Department’s National Security Division and FBI Special Agent in Charge Daniel Wierzbicki of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division.
Court documents reveal that between December 2017 and June 2024, Rahmati collaborated with Iranian officials and intelligence operatives. His activities included meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating under a cover story, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor to access sensitive information about U.S. aviation, and collecting both open-source and non-public materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry for Iranian intelligence.
“By secretly doing the bidding of the Iranian government, Mr. Rahmati violated the trust placed in him as a U.S. citizen and as a federal contractor with access to sensitive information,” said U.S. Attorney Pirro. “Ensuring that sensitive U.S. information does not fall into the hands of hostile foreign intelligence services remains one of our highest priorities.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Wierzbicki added: “Rahmati exploited his trusted position to obtain sensitive information about the U.S. aviation sector and share it with the Iranian government... Today’s sentencing demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to disrupt threats to U.S. critical infrastructure, especially those emanating from the nefarious activities of Iranian intelligence officers who seek to harm our nation.”
According to prosecutors, Rahmati first offered his services to Iran through a senior official who had ties to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security after previously attending university together. In December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran where he agreed to collect information about the American solar energy industry for Iranian officials using academic research discussions as cover for future communications.
After returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati gathered private and public materials related to solar energy and provided them to an official from Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology office at the direction of Iranian authorities.
As part of his role as an agent for Iran, Rahmati used his FAA contractor position to download at least 172 GB of company files onto removable media which he then transported back to Iran in April 2022. There he handed over sensitive documents during meetings with Iranian intelligence officers who told him they were seeking new ideas and technology not available domestically; they also discussed potential financial incentives such as loans or grants if he continued supplying valuable information.
Later that month, Rahmati sent additional data concerning solar energy technology, FAA operations, airports, and air traffic control towers via his brother living in Iran so it could be delivered directly to Iranian intelligence officials.
The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office with help from FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Tortorice; former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall; Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton from DOJ's National Security Division; with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern District of Virginia.
